Kiran Joshmaul
Admiral Kiran Joshmaul, MD/CX (born April 11, 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a fictional character created by Joshua Underwood in the world of Star Trek roleplaying. Joshmaul has been portrayed by Brad Dourif, known for playing "intense" (and often times, psychotic) characters, since 2003. He has been portrayed by a number of avatars since his inception in 1999, including British actor Peter Cushing (known for his portrayal of Grand Moff Tarkin in the first Star Wars film, as well as his work in horror movies), artwork from video games, and drawings from artists at Underwood's request. Underwood has written out much of the Emperor's history, either by playing the storylines in his roleplaying, or merely thinking things out. Origins No one is sure what Joshmaul's birth name was, or why he chose the one he did; the "Joshmaul" he chose, it is said, to honor a man who would become his best friend, Joshua Underwood - who, at the time of the Eugenics Wars, was only five years old. Relative of a Serial Killer? There has been speculation since the 1990s that Joshmaul's real last name is Ray, and that he is a blood relative to notorious 20th century serial killer Charles Lee Ray, killed by law enforcement officers in 1988. Ray was said to have the ability to resurrect himself in the form of a doll; however, to this day, his body remains buried in a run-down cemetery in Hackensack, New Jersey. The incredible, almost identical physical resemblance between the two men has led to theories that Ray and Joshmaul may have been twin siblings, but the distance from one another - Ray being born in the United States, and Joshmaul in Scotland - and their ten-year age difference disproves that theory. Joshmaul himself is unaware of his origins; he claims the "Kiran" was given to him by a man who worked with him at the Edinburgh orphanage where Joshmaul grew up. He believes there may be a potential relation between him and the dead Chicago serial killer, but nothing as close as theorists suggest. Eugenic History Joshmaul was engineered for incredible longevity and strength in the 1970s; however, he was sent into the fray to fight against, rather than alongside, genetically engineered supermen like Khan Noonien Singh. He served in the British Royal Navy during the Eugenics Wars, trying to ensure that people like Khan did not run rampant across the world. He found out (years later) that Khan's escape from Earth was engineered. Once the Eugenics Wars ended, Joshmaul faded into obscurity for over two centuries, bearing silent witness to the Third World War, first contact with Vulcan, and the foundation of the United Federation of Planets. However, Joshmaul saw that the Federation would provide a great opportunity for him, and he decided to take it. Finally, in 2201, Joshmaul entered the Federation Starfleet, and graduated Starfleet Academy as a lieutenant, junior grade in 2205. Starfleet Service Joshmaul served on Starfleet vessels in one form or another from the time he entered the Academy until 2276, when he vanished without trace near the Jovian moon of Io. Joshmaul started first with destroyer command during the early conflicts with the Klingons, and received the U.S.S. Constitution (NCC-1700) in 2238. Several years later, Joshmaul - as a commodore - participated in the Battle of Donatu V, fought near Sherman's Planet. While he served in Starfleet, he attended institutes of scientific learning, including MIT, and gained a doctorate in cybernetics in 2245 - the year the Starship Enterprise entered service. In 2246, he established the Joshmaul Defense Corporation to build cybernetic components and also weapons and defensive technology for Starfleet. (It would become one of the largest corporations in the Reydovan Empire under his rule, fifty years later.) Joshmaul also witnessed the rise of James Kirk through the ranks of Starfleet, and the legend that he became in his own lifetime. In 2271, when then-Admiral Kirk wad demoted to command the refitted Enterprise, Joshmaul and his friend Joshua Underwood became influential members of Starfleet Command; Joshmaul was on the General Staff, while Underwood had taken over for Kirk at Starfleet Operations until his return. In 2272, when the Kznti Incursion ended at Zetar, Joshmaul became a vocal opponent of most of the Federation Council and Starfleet Command, saying it was their mismanagement and dishonorable espionage tactics against the Kzin that had caused the war in the first place. He became so vocal that he declared open rebellion, and nine systems who would later become part of his Empire went with him. Trial and Disappearance Admiral Joshmaul was tried by the Federation Council for his actions. His best friend, Vice Admiral Underwood, served as his advocate. Underwood said that while Joshmaul's actions were rebellious and ill-conceived, he had given seventy-five years of service to the Federation and Starfleet, and thus asked them to consider that when it pronounced its sentence. The Federation Council agreed, and declared that Joshmaul would be sentenced to rehabilitation before he returned to service. However, when Underwood was taking him to the rehab colony, the Mary D. Anderson - Underwood's flagship - was consumed by a temporal anomaly near Io just as the Enterprise returned from her second five year mission on March 17, 2276. An investigation ensued, and two years later, Joshmaul and Underwood were both declared dead. There was no evidence that they would ever return, and to add to it a piece of hull plating, presumably from the Anderson, was found in orbit. The Federation did not yet realize that the Hand of Fate had made its move, and Joshmaul would be involved in what would happen two decades later, when he had become a caesar... The Rise of Emperor Joshmaul Joshmaul and Underwood appeared near the Reydovan system on August 11, 2296. When the leaders of the now-independent Reydovan systems, who had left the Federation five years earlier, found out that Joshmaul was alive, the Conclave of Serenia was convened to potentially make Joshmaul the new Emperor of an independent Reydovan Empire. However, there was the matter of an already-signed treaty from five years earlier, that said they would not make such a move. However, the Reydovan leaders did not anticipate that Joshmaul would return alive; so they decided to disregard the treaty in order to allow Joshmaul to be their new Emperor. The Conclave was adjourned on October 10, 2296, and the following day Joshmaul was crowned Emperor Joshmaul I in a public ceremony in the newly-renamed Imperial City (formerly "First City") on Reydovan Prime. Once in power, Emperor Joshmaul appointed Joshua Underwood as commander of the Imperial Navy and Daniel Longstreet as the head of the Imperial Marine Corps (the Imperial Army was not established until 2370), and created the Imperial Guard to serve as the police force for the Empire, and also as praetorians to the Emperor himself. He solidified his position quickly, appointing ministers and a council of the planetary leaders to serve as his advisors. Underwood remained his chief advisor. He would need all of Underwood's expertise two years later, when the Federation discovered that Joshmaul had returned - and had violated a very detailed treaty... War with the Federation In 2298, the Federation Starfleet was vastly depleted as a result of the Khitomer Accords; the Fleet had mostly disarmed over the years, particularly along the Klingon Neutral Zone. When they discovered Joshmaul was alive and leading his own Empire, they sent a fleet of starships under Admiral Daniel Neill - Joshmaul's successor in the General Staff - to quell this "rebellion". The results were devastating; Neill was captured, and the task force all but destroyed. Neill realized that in order to avoid execution, he would have to swear loyalty to Joshmaul - and that is exactly what he did. The Federation Council went into an uproar. It was divided on the "Reydovan issue" as it stood; a good deal of the Council voted to recognize the Empire as a legitimate state; the remainder, including the reigning President, Ra-ghoratrei of Delta IV (who had signed the Khitomer Accords five years earlier), were opposed to this move. It would place a "hostile power" right on the border between the Federation and the Klingons. The issue would be decided in battle, and for three years, the Reydovan Empire and the Federation went back and forth, but gained little ground. Finally, tiring of the pointless bloodshed, Ra-ghoratrei contacted Grand Admiral Underwood, the supreme commander of the Emperor's forces, to discuss a treaty. A cease-fire was called on April 7, 2301. Thus, the Treaty of Korolev in its final form was officially signed on August 11, 2301 (the terms had been decided months earlier, during the cease-fire), defining the border between the Reydovan Empire and the Federation, as well as securing Joshmaul's legitimacy as Emperor. The Calm Before the Storm Joshmaul ruled peacefully as Emperor for twenty years after the end of the war, but he soon realized that the details of running the government might be too much for one man alone. In 2321, he appointed Grand Admiral Underwood as the first Imperial Chancellor, to handle all the administrative details of the government. Through that time period, Joshmaul managed to keep the peace, but by 2348, things were starting to turn awry with the Sha'kurian Duchies, and soon it degenerated into open war. In mid-2349, an assault was needed, and a commander was needed to lead it. The Emperor asked for a man capable of leading smaller forces head on into the larger Sha'kurian force. One hand went up - 48-year-old Major General Jeremiah Neill, who had been promoted twice over the course of the war, and was known as a "reckless son-of-a-bitch", as Daniel Longstreet put it. (Ironically enough, Neill's nephew, Jonathan Ross, was referred to quite similarly by the same man, twenty-five years later.) With Neill leading a small force into that battle, they managed to destroy their opponents with few losses, due to the hit-and-run tactics that Neill favored. The war ended in 2350 in a decisive Imperial victory. Return to Starfleet The war with the Dominion came and went, and so too did several officers: Daniel Longstreet became commander of the SFMC (and was killed at the Battle of Cardassia), and Neill and Ross went with him. Emperor Joshmaul remained in power for some time, but after the war ended in 2375, the Reydovan state undergoes great change. Now a celebrated friend of the Federation, Kiran Joshmaul abdicates and returns to Starfleet with great fanfare. He is restored to his rank of Admiral on March 17, 2375 - exactly 99 years to the day he disappeared while en route to the Tantalus V Colony for rehabilitation. He is given the post of Chief of Starfleet Operations, the same post held by Joshua Underwood on that fateful day a century earlier. His sons, Azrael and Kiran II, refuse to take the throne, and so Underwood, the reigning Chancellor, dissolves the monarchy and establishes the Reydovan Democratic Republic. But the Reydovan nobility disagreed with this move entirely, believing that the Republic would result in their removal from their powers. Led by Grand Duke Gavriil Tscholivosky of Caymarnian City, the nobility united with the resurrected Artimus Devaneaux against Underwood, who was forced to go into exile with his commanders on Earth. Crowning the madman Emperor Artimus I, Gavriil and the council of nobles began to reform the Empire to their standards. But Artimus grew tired of the constant squabbling, and in November 2375 ordered the execution of the Grand Duke and the other nobles. Joshmaul realized that the nobility would be able to turn the tide against "Mad Emperor Artimus", if the people they ruled would be convinced. So he moved in and rescued the council of nobles from Artimus' jails and brought them to Earth. A new council of nobles, led by Gavriil and his father, Grand Duke Vladimir, is headquartered on Earth with Joshua Underwood, the Chancellor-in-exile. Joshmaul went before the Federation Council and said that the sooner Starfleet acted, the shorter Artimus' reign of blood would be. Though President Victor Manchester expressed his desire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, the Council and Starfleet Command agreed that Joshmaul was the best man to lead the Starfleet effort. Joshmaul received orders to do "whatever is necessary to end the tyrannical rule of Artimus Devaneaux and prevent other empires and their people from suffering the same fate as the Empire you created nearly eighty years ago." Kiran Joshmaul is currently on Earth. Category: RPG Category: Reydovan_Empire